By Astghik Bedevian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Former President Serzh Sargsyan has continued a war of words with political allies of his predecessor and fellow opposition leader Robert Kocharyan while pledging to keep fighting for regime change in Armenia.
Opposition groups led by Sargsyan and Kocharyan have traded bitter recriminations over the last few months. In particular, they have accused each other of helping Nikol Pashinyan come to power in 2018.
Sargsyan for the first time publicly joined in the acrimony late on Monday, April 14, as he delivered a speech on the 35th anniversary of the creation of his Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). Without mentioning Kocharyan by name, he said that the latter’s loyalists participated in the massive street protests that forced him to resign and are therefore complicit in what Pashinyan brought upon Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in the following years. He said they now want to “clean their not-too-distant past” by blaming him for the 2018 “velvet revolution.”
“It’s clear to me why they behave like that or so anxiously hide their efforts to help the power usurpers in 2018 or maybe try to steal opposition votes ahead of the upcoming elections,” charged Sargsyan.
Members of Kocharyan’s political team did not respond to the accusations as of Tuesday afternoon.
